Electric regulation



J. L. CREVELING.

ELECTRIC REGULATION. APPUCATI 0N men NOV. 1, 1916. RENEWED APR. 11. 1922.

1 ,420,81 9-. Patented June 27, 1922.

p-O-l 1 it-E- -g- 2: /9 :1 Cr v 6 INVENTOR:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. OREVELZNG, OZS WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR 'lO' GOULD COUPLER COMPANY, A CORPORATION 01? NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC REGULATION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 27, 1922 Application filed November'l, 1916, Serial No. 128,821. Renewed April 17, 1922-. Serial No. 553,922;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN L. GimvnLINe, a citizen of the United States, residing in \Vhitc Plains, county of Westchester, and State of New York, have invented certain new and usetul improvements in Electric Regulation, of which the following description.

ll ly invention pertains to that class of electric regulation wherein" it is desired to regulate an electric function in a predetermined manner, and has for a particular ob ject to provide means whereby said regula tion will be automatically accomplished.

This application is a continuation, in so far as common subject-matter is disclosed, of my application for patent for improvements in electric regulation, Serial No. M070, filed January 25, 1916.

In the drawing, T. is a diagrammatic representation of one type of electrical system embodying my invention; and

Fig. IT illustrates a modification which may be made in the general system portrayed in Fig. I without departing from my invention.

In Fig. I, 1 represents a dynamo or gen crater, the positive terminal of which is con nected as by lead 2 with the positive terminals of the storage battery 3 and lamps or other translating devices indicated at 4. The negative terminals of the translating devices and the storage battery are connected as by lead 5 witl'r one side oi any suitable switch 6, the opposite terminal of which is connected as by wire 7 with one end of the winding or solenoid S, the opposite end ot which is connected as by lead 9' with the negative terminal ot' the generator. The generator is provided with any suitable exciting means, in this instance indicated as the usual shunt coil 10, having in series therewith a regulating element l1 indicated as a rarbon pile. It will therefore be obvious that the generator may be regulated by proper manipulation of the pressure applied to the pile 11, which will control the resistance thereof. A pivot 12 carries a bell-crank lever comprising the short arm 13 and the long arm 14L, while the pivot 15 carries a bell-crank lever having the short arm 16 and the long arm 17. The car bon pile 11 is held by any of the well known supporting means, purposely omit ed for the sake otclearness, between the levers 13 and 16, and therefore the pressure upon the pile the core 11 may be increased by swinging the levers 1d and 17 in a downward direction so as to cause levers 13 and 16 to approach each other. The springs 18 and 19 tend to draw the levers 14; and 17 downwardly and increase the pres sure upon the pile 11, while the limit oi downward movement that may be given the said levers may be adjusted as by screws 20 and 21. It desired, the springs 18 and 19 may be suppressed and weights, as indicated at 22, used in their steady or such weights may be used in conjunction therewith. 23 is spring yieldingly connecting the levers and 16 and tending to draw the same together. The tension of the spring 528 may be adjusted as by nuts 24. The outer extremity of lever 14 is provided with the pivotal connection 25 carrying the core 27, while the outer extremity of the lever 17 is provided 'with a, shear e26 adapted to be engaged by the core 28 when the same is sullicientl y raised. The cores 27 and 28 may be held in their positions of proper alignment by any suitable means, and are preferably provided with dashpots 29' which restrain toosudden movement of the said cores. The core 28 is surrmiznded by the coil in such manner that one gizati on or the said coiltend's to lift the core. The con 27 is smfrounded by the coil 3) which is shown in shunt across the generator and which when energized tends to litt T he operation of the coil 8 may be adjusted as by means of the variable shunt 31; while the operation of the coil 3f) may be :uljusted as by means of the variable resistcate like parts, and the only modification intended to be brought out by the use of this figure is the coil 33 which may be used in place of coil 8 of Fig. l, in which event the (Uli' altecting the core 28 will be responsive to current in the-battery circuit only, while the coil 8 of Fig. I is responsive to the total generator output.

The. main switch 6, the mere presence of which is diagrammatically indicated, ispreferably one of the automatic variety, closing its circuit when its generator voltage is substantially equal to that of the storage battery, and opening the circuit when the generator voltage fallsvery slightly below that of the battery so as to prevent back discharge from the battery through the generator. As such switches are well known in the art, de

Cir

tails are purposely omitted for the sake of brevity.

An operation of my invention is substantially as follows, referring particularly to Fig. I:

If the generator 1 be at rest or running at sufiiciently low speed, its voltage will be be low that of the storage battery 3 and switch 6 will be open and the translating devices 1 may be supplied by the battery 3 in a well known manner. If the generator have its speed brought up until its voltage is slightly in excess of that of the battery, switch 6 will close and current will then flow from the generator to the battery and translating devices, returning to the generator through coil. 8, and thereby causing the same to tend to raise the core 28. And I so adjust the tension of spring 19, spring 28 and adjustable shunt 31, or whatever instrumentalities may be employed for the purpose of adjustment, that when the current supplied by the generator, which of course will tend to increase with an increase in speed, reaches a predetermined maximum, as for example the maximum current desired to have delivered by the generator, this output will, by raising the core 28 and bringing the same into con tact with sheave 26, and then by swinging the lever 17 in an upward direction, swing the lever 16 in a direction away from the pile 11 so as to decrease the pressure thereupon and cut down the generator field and prevent this maximum desired current from being exceeded. Throughout this operation, lever 1 1 will rest upon its stop 20, and lever 13 will form an abutment for the opposite end of the pile 11. If for any reason delivery of this maximum current controlled by the coil 8 necessitate the maximum desired voltage upon any part of the system, across which may be connected the coil 30, (which in this instance is shown across the generator circuit and therefore practically determining its terminal voltage,) I so adjust resistance 32, spring 18 and weight 22, or whichever of such devices may be used, that when the generator reaches this maximum desired voltage, coil will raise core 27 and lift lever it from its stop 20 and swing the lever in a direction away from the pile 11 so as to increase the resistance thereof and prevent this desired maximum voltage from being exceeded.

As soon as the voltage coil begins to lower the generator voltage, the current in the coil 8 will begin to fall off and lever 17 will tend to settle down upon its stop 21 and core 28 will tend to assume the position shown in the drawing and lever 16 will serve merely as a stop or abutment against one end of the pile 11, while the entire regulation will be performed by the voltage responsive means so long as the current re mains below that limited by the solenoid 8 means is operative and lever 16 is swung in a direction away from the pile, the tension of spring 23 and lever 13 is somewhat increased by the motion of level 16. There fore, when the voltage responsive means usurps the function of the current responsive means, it first moves the lever 13 and its cooperating parts against a slightly increased pull of the spring 28, which is relieved as soon as core 28 and lever 17 descend... And, therefore, the voltage responsive means operates against a slightly lower opposition than. when it started to usurp the function of regulation, and now holds a slightly lower voltage upon the system than that necessary to bring it into action. And this slight difference in voltage will cause the chargin current to fall off quite rapidly and approach zero, as may readily be determined by adjusting the parts in a manner which will be plain to one skilled in the art.

It will be noted that by having the core 28 normally detached and out of contact with its sheave 26, carried by arm 17, a considerable fluctuation in current may take place without in any way affecting the regulating apparatus so long as the magnetomotive force of coil 8 is insufficient to raise core 28; and after the core is brought into cooperation with its respective lever, adjustment of the spring or weight or both, or whatever means may be employed, may then determine to anicet-y the exact current necessary to operate the regulator.

The operation of that modification ill-- tended to be brought out by use of Fig. It is substantially the same as the operation above with respectto Fig. I, with the exception that it is the current in the battery charging circuit that is limited through the ins trumentality of the current responsive means, including coil 33 instead of coil 8 of Fig. l, and, therefore, the battery charging current will be limited, instead of the total generator output; and in such an arrangement it is obvious that the battery charging current may be made to fall off even more rapidly when the voltage responsive means usurps the function of regulation than in the system of Fig. I when the translating devices are in circuit.

From the foregoing it will be noted that my invention produces a system wherein the current delivered by the generator to a particular circuit, as for example the main circuit or the battery circuit, may be held from exceeding a predetermined desirable limit, and wherein the voltage across a circuit, as for example across the generator terminals or the battery terminals, may be held from exceeding a predetermined limit, and that whenever the voltage responsive means usuras the function of the current responsive means, causing the same to go out of action, the voltage responsive means will, due to an effect of its own operation, react upon the system in such manner that the charging current will, in an adjustable de gree, be abruptly decreased or terminated.

I do not wish in any way to limit myself to any of the exact constructions or details of operation given above to illustrate one embodiment of my invention, for'it will be obvious that wide departure may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof which is set forth in the following claims.

hat I claim is:

l. The combination with regulating means, a plurality of means for separately affecting the same and voltage responsive means connected with one of said affecting means whereby any motion therein affects the regu lating means, of current responsive moans capable of moving without affecting the regulating means and also capable of en gaging one of the affecting means to operate the regulating means, and means cooperating with the affecting means whereby the operation of one of said means affects the operation of another of said means.

2. The combination with regulating means, a plurality of means for separately affecting the same and voltage responsive means connected with one of said affecting means whereby any motion therein affects the regulating means, of current responsive means capable of moving without'affecting the regulating means and also capable of engaging an affecting means to operate the regulating means, and means uniting the affecting means whereby the operation of one of said means affects the operation of another of said means.

3. The combination with regulating means, a plurality of means for affecting the same and voltage responsive means connected with one of said affecting means whereby any motion therein affects the regulating means, of-current responsive means capable of mov ing without affecting the regulating means and also capable of engaging another of the affecting means to operate the regulating means, and means adjustably uniting the affecting means whereby the operation of one of said means affects the operation of another of said means.

4:. The combination with regulating means, a plurality of means for affecting the same and voltage responsive means connected with one of said affecting means whereby any motion therein affects the regulating means, of current responsive means capable of moving without affecting the regulating means and also capable of engaging another of the affecting means to operate the regulating means, and means resiliently uniting the affecting means whereby the operation of one of said means affects the operation of another i of said means.

5. The combination with a generator, regulating means affecting the operation thereof, means for affecting the regulating means comprehending movable means affecting the same whenever moved and responsive to voltage fluctuations, and. current respon sive means capable of movement without at:- fecting the regulating means and adapted to engage an affecting means to regulate the generator, and means whereby the affecting means cooperate, of means for separately adjusting the operation of the affecting means, and means for mutually adjusting the relationship between the affecting means.

6. The combination with regulating means, a plurality of separately movable means for affecting the same and voltage responsive means connected with one of said affecting means whereby any action therein affects the regulating means, of current responsive means capable of moving without affecting the regulating means and also arranged to engage another of the affecting means to operate the regulating means.

JOHN L. CREVELING. 

